Arsenal take on Brighton and Hove Albion in their 18th Premier League game of the season.
The Gunners are on top of the table, two points ahead of Manchester City. Things are going to plan on the pitch for Mikel Arteta, but injuries continue to trouble his side.
Arsenal haven’t had a fully fit squad available to them all season. In fact, 17 out of their 25-man first-team squad have missed games due to injury or illness.
Arteta will want everyone back as soon as possible, and there is some positive news going into the game against Brighton on Saturday.
Fill the blanks: The most costly Arsenal injury has been _______ because ____________.
Mikel Arteta says Kai Havertz could be back in a matter of days
Arsenal had a defensive crisis in the game against Crystal Palace midweek.
The Gunners were without Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie for the Carabao Cup quarter-final.
That reduced the options at the back so much that the only defender available on the bench was Marli Salmon, who is just 16 years old.
Earlier in the campaign, Arsenal had a similar problem with their attack, with Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard all suffering from injuries. Many of them were out of action at around the same time.
That has made this season much more difficult than it otherwise should have been for Arsenal, but there is finally some good news now.
Speaking about Havertz, Arteta said, as per The Athletic: “Quite close. I think it will be a matter of days, if not weeks. Let’s see in the next stage how he responds to that.
“He’s a player that we’ve missed a lot. A player that brings the team into a different dimension. So, really happy to have him back soon.”
Change my mind, Kai Havertz’s return can win Arsenal the league.
Mikel Arteta also provides an update on Gabriel Magalhaes’ injury
Havertz’s imminent return will be a huge boost for Arsenal.
The German has been a big miss in attack, but the player who has been an even bigger loss in both boxes is Gabriel.
The former Lille man has been out since the last international break, but he is progressing well. However, he hasn’t trained with the team just yet.
The Arsenal manager said about Gabriel: “We have to wait and see again. He hasn’t trained yet. He’s stable in his rehab.
“But hopefully we get him back as soon as possible because we know the situation that we have in the backline.”
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